As the U.S. government closed a public comment period on Wednesday on its plans for the 2020 census, scientists, philanthropists and civil rights groups used the occasion to again criticize plans to include a question about U.S. citizenship.

At least 250,000 people have called for removing the question, according to a coalition of civil rights groups, led by the Leadership Conference Education Fund https://leadershipconferenceedfund.org/about on Wednesday.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine http://www.nationalacademies.org’s Committee on National Statistics, a prominent statistical organization, said in a letter to the U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday that the question was “inconsistent with the ‘proper performance of the functions’ of the Census Bureau,” and should be removed.

A coalition of more than 300 philanthropic groups, including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation, called for removing the question. They said it would “significantly undermine efforts to achieve a fair and accurate census in 2020.”

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced in March the decennial census would ask citizenship status for the first time since 1950, explaining that the information would help enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The plan has drawn widespread scorn from city and state governments, scientists, and civil rights groups who think it is a politically driven effort to discourage immigrants from participating in the census.

A Commerce Department spokesperson said the department and Census Bureau appreciated the public comments they received from dozens of government officials, members of Congress and others from across the political spectrum before Ross decided to reinstate the citizenship question.

Because census data is used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, dole out federal funding and serve as the basis for state-level political districts, an undercount of immigrants could affect a state or city’s political representation for a decade.

Among those who support the question are scholars at the conservative Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute, Republican U.S. Representatives Steve King and Clay Higgins, and Republican Senator John Kennedy.

Opinion team members Todd Dorman, Lynda Waddington, Adam Sullivan and Vicki Decker offer tips and take questions in this fun mix of tutorial and workshop. Bring your opinion column ideas for this free event.

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“A census isn’t just a simple count of every man, woman and child,” Kennedy said in April. “It delves into economics, geography and other demographics. It certainly should be able to tell the story of our nation’s citizenship.” (Reporting by Nick Brown in New York; editing by Damon Darlin)